


can we start over

by lilibughead



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: 7th grade is only the 1st chapter, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Heartbreak, It skips from 7th grade to college, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Rekindled Romance, Shameless Smut, a lot of angst though, a lot of backstory throughout the story, chapter 2 is mostly backstory about 7th-9th grade, chapter 3 is where the main story starts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-21 10:04:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14282568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilibughead/pseuds/lilibughead
Summary: Betty is 12 years old when she is forced by her overbearing mother to go to a volleyball camp to get her in shape. While she's there she meets a handsome, mysterious boy by the name of Jughead who quickly catches her eye. He's a broody, talented volleyball player and she's the perfect girl next door. She's annoyed by him at first but then she learns more about what makes him him, and they become friends. They end up going to different schools so she gives up on any hopes of seeing him again and forgets about him.Then, 7th grade starts and she sees him in her science class. A friendship blossoms, but soon she wants more. She's being drowned with stress at home and has become completely depressed. She starts depending on him for happiness. They date but things go wrong and they break up. They try to be friends again but nothing works. They decide to cut each other off completely.They end up on the same plane to New York 4 years later and are placed next to each other on the flight. They talk and realize they're going to the same college. Can they start over? Will #bughead be endgame?





	1. summer camp

Betty Cooper wakes up at 6 o clock to her mother banging on her door, telling her to get ready for summer camp. She’s 12 and has no interest in sports, but her mom said she should be more well rounded, so here she is, on her way to volleyball camp. She sighs. “Okay mom, I’m getting ready,” she says so the pounding on her door will stop. She hops out of bed, pulls on some athletic shorts and a t-shirt, and walks downstairs. She pours herself a bowl of cereal and eats quickly, then puts her workout shoes on. She’s a master of getting ready fast. Her mother made sure she was never late for anything. Her mother walks out to the car and she follows, hopping into the mini van.  
5 minutes later she arrives at sweetwater park, the only park in town. She waves goodbye to her mother and strolls down to the volleyball courts. The coach walks over to her and welcomes her and tells her to head over to where a tall boy with shaggy black hair is standing until camp starts. He’s wearing a strange looking beanie and looks incredibly full of himself at the moment. He’s bouncing the volleyball in the air, hitting it and catching it perfectly every time. He goes in for a spike and sends it flying to the perfect spot of the court. She walks over and says, “so, we’re the first one’s here, huh? I’m Betty.” He stops what he’s doing and gives her a cocky grin “I’m Jughead, the coach’s assistant.” He emphasizes the words coach assistant. “Uh, okay,” she says, kind of pissed off. She decides to not talk to him anymore and sits down until more kids start arriving. The coach calls her and the beanie headed boy over and announces the start of camp. She decides that she doesn’t like this boy. He’s unfairly cute which makes it hard to dislike him but she stays strong and manages to avoid him for the rest of the day.  
The boy, whose name ended up being Jughead, has been very annoying since she met him and she cannot wait to leave. He just acts so full of himself and she can’t stand it. That is, until he walks up to her during break and starts talking to her. She decides to give him another chance and responds to him, although she fakes her enthusiasm. He talks about how he’s passionate about volleyball, and she talks about how she doesn’t like sports but she likes books. He tells her that he also likes books and asks her about her favorites. They chat for the rest of the break and she ends up not having to fake her enthusiasm. They smile at each other as they walk back to the courts. Maybe volleyball camp wouldn’t be so bad after all

-

The rest of the days go by quickly and she’s happy with her new beanie wearing friend. She never asks him about the beanie or his name, but she asks him about all sorts of other things. She wants to get to know him. She doesn’t have many friends and is hoping that she can make a friend, like, a real friend out of Jughead. She asks how long he’s been playing volleyball even though she really doesn’t care. She asks about his favorite authors, what school he goes to, and the list goes on. Instead of being annoyed by the questions, the boy seems to be happy about someone showing an interest in him and babbles on about volleyball, reading, etc. As soon as he saw her he thought she was gorgeous so he showed off, but when he saw how she reacted, he decided to just talk to her and decided that he liked, no, really liked her. She was smart, she was kind, she was perfect. His home life sucked and he gets bullied at school, and for the rest of the week he looks forward to camp just because she’s there, and she distracts him from the reality of his life. Sadly, the camp only lasts a week. They go to different schools so they don’t bother getting each others’ contact info and slowly start forgetting about each other for the rest of the summer. They didn’t want to get attached and then never see each other. And so their story ends….or does it?


	2. what now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty's on her way to the school of her dreams. What happens when she runs into the man that broke her heart at the airport?

Betty wakes up to alarm blaring. It’s the morning of her flight to her dream college in New York. She’s 18 and it’s her first year. “Fuck!” she whispers, realizing she’s late as hell. She hops out of bed and practically leaps into the shower. She tries to shave and shampoo her hair at the same time and ends up lathering her hair in shaving cream. “Great morning, huh,” she sighs as she washes the foamy cream out of her hair.   
In an hour she’s finally ready to head to the airport. “Bye mom,” she yells as she runs out of the house. She puts her luggage into the trunk of the taxi and hops in. She gets a call on the way there from her best friend that’s thankfully going to the same college as her. “Hey V! I’m headed to the airport right now. What’s New York like?” she asks. Veronica Lodge and Betty Cooper had been friends since 8th grade and had decided to go to college together and be roommates. Veronica caught a flight the day before her so was already in New York. “Hey B! It’s absolutely magical. We’re going shopping as soon as you get here. I saw this store with the cutest shoes. Are you doing okay?” Veronica responds. “Yeah, I’m really happy I’m getting out of Riverdale,” she says. She couldn’t wait to get out of Riverdale. There were too many bad memories. She thought back to Jughead. How in love she was and how much they hurt each other. How stupid she’d been. After volleyball camp they lost touch, but he ended up going to the same middle school as her. They ended up dating but they were using each other for happiness and it wasn’t healthy so they broke up. Betty got really bad and ended up attempting suicide multiple times. Jughead was heartbroken and reached out to her and asked if they could be friends. They became close friends and fell in love but he was too scared of getting close to her and getting hurt because of her past suicide attempts. The friendship didn’t work out and they cut off contact. She wonders where he is now. If he’s in college. If he’s pursing his love of volleyball. She quickly shakes the thoughts out of her head. She’s living without him. She’s going to the college of her dreams with her best friend. It had taken a few years of depression but now she could safely say that she was over Jughead Jones. How much better could her life get?

-

She arrives at the airport and lugs her luggage out of the taxi. She wheels it into the airport and checks it in. She then goes through security which she hates, and heads to her gate. She sits down in an empty chair. She goes on her phone and texts Veronica about New York until something catches her eye. It’s a crown shaped beanie.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they talk. how does it go?

She audibly gasps as the man who broke her heart walks to sit down in a chair. She quickly grabs a magazine and shoves it over her face. “Please don’t let him notice me” she whispers to herself. I mean why would he. He moved on years ago, and he refused to talk to her for years. They haven’t spoken since 9th grade. She’s furious. But is she too furious to talk to him and try to be friends? Hell no, and that’s exactly what she’s gonna do, no matter how bad it’ll probably be for her.  
She checks how she looks in the mirror, happy that she glew up so much since they saw each other, and stands up. She casually walks over to him and takes the seat next to him. “Uhm, hi?” she says nervously. He jumps. “Oh my god….Betty. Uh, what are you doing here?” he says nervously. “You don’t still hate me, do you?” she asks, silently crossing her fingers. He sighs. “Betty, you know why we stopped being in contact. I never hated you, I just couldn’t be around you. It hurt.” “Oh” she says quietly. As soon as she says that, the first boarding group is told to line up. “I guess I’ll…see you someday” she says, and walks back to her seat, fighting back tears. He seemed so cold towards her and she hated it. She hated that they couldn’t talk for even a few minutes without it getting awkward and heated. She hated that she had been so stupid in 8th grade and most of all, she hated that she was most definitely not over him.   
She sits in her seat waiting for her group to board the plane. Her group is finally called up and she walks over to stand in line. She tries not to notice that Jughead is standing a couple people down from her. She walks into the plane, sits down, and shuts her eyes tight, slipping in her earbuds. Her eyes snap open as somebody taps her. She looks up and inwardly groans. It’s Jughead. Did the world hate her? “I’m sitting next to you” he says sheepishly. She sighs and gets out of her seat to let him into his.


	4. the plane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they finally have a conversation. What will be said?

Betty sighs. It’s an hour into the flight and she can’t keep her eyes off of Jughead. She misses the little smiles when he’s reading one of his favorite books. She misses the one curl of hair that falls in front of his face when he concentrates. She doesn’t even realize how long she’s been staring at him before she hears him say “Uh, are you okay?” “Yes, of course, I just spaced off there. Sorry,” she replies awkwardly. She starts to turn away but he touches her shoulder and says timidly “Um…how are you? Are you doing okay these days?” A surge of anger courses through her. She wants to say “You know why you don’t know? Because you left. You left me during the hardest times of my life. I thought you were special but you let me down. So don’t ask me all of the sudden how I am because you never bothered to show up and ask 6 years ago.” Instead she just fakes a smile and says “I’m okay. How about you?” He gives a small smile and starts making small talk about where he’s headed to. He talks about getting a scholarship for volleyball. A tear threatens to fall down her cheek. He followed his dream. Good for him.  
Then she realizes something. The college she’s going to, the dream school that she’s going to for journalism, is also well known for its volleyball scholarships. She freezes. It can’t be true. Her breaths get shallow. She hears a voice calling her name and snaps out of it. It’s Jughead. “So yeah, Betty, I’m going to my dream school, Littlewood College.” She hears the name of the college and starts to panic. That’s the college she’s on her way to, her literal dream college. This time a tear does fall down her cheek and she excuses herself to go to the bathroom. He frowns as he sees her jump out of her seat.  
She starts delving into a full blown panic attack as soon as the bathroom door shuts. She starts hearing everything that he said to her before he left and broke her heart. “I wont forget you, you’re just not special to me anymore. You used to be, I promise.” That was what hurt the most. That she wasn’t special to him anymore. She falls to the floor and sobs. What else can she do. Here she is sitting next to a man, pathetically staring at him and falling in love with him all over again. The same man that said she wasn’t special to him. The same man that said horrible things about her when she was in the hospital for attempting suicide. The man that wants absolutely nothing to do with her but is talking to her because he pities her. What has she come to. She went through all this work to get over him for him to just show up at an airport and completely control her.   
No. She won’t let this happen. She won’t let him ruin 6 years of hard work that got her to where she is today. She won’t even see him again, most likely. They have different scholarships. She gathers herself together, whispering to herself that it’ll be okay, and sits down next to the beanie wearing boy for the rest of the flight.  
There’s definitely some tension between them when she returns. They still haven’t had a conversation about anything and she doesn’t really know how to start, if she even wants to talk. Finally as they’re landing she gathers her courage and blurts out “We’re going to the same college do you want to get coffee and catch up sometime?” “What was that?” he chuckles. She repeats herself more slowly and he smiles. “As a better answer to your question earlier, no I do not hate you Betty Cooper. We were kids. It’s in the past. And I’ll take you up on that coffee offer as long as you’re treating,” he says confidently. She lets out a huge breath that she’s been holding in and gives a shy smile back. “Okay. You still have my number, right?” she asks. He nods and stands up to get his carryon. “I’ll see you around Betty.”


	5. reconnecting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they meet for coffee :)

It was a Saturday and Betty woke up calmly at noon. It had been a week since she saw Jughead for the first time in years and they had planned to meet for coffee today. She realizes that they’re supposed to meet at 12:30 and hops out of bed and runs into the shower.  
She finishes showering and lays out her outfit for the day. A simple pair of black jeans and a blue tanktop with a blue flannel on top. She blow dries her hair and puts on some natural makeup, adding a little eyeshadow for a pop of color. She starts to get nervous. What if it’s awkward. What if they start talking about the past and get mad at each other. And in the depths of her mind she was thinking - what if he doesn’t want me back   
She knew she still loved him but she hadn’t thought about how complicated it would be to be together. I mean they have so much past to work through and who knows if he still loves her too. 

-

Jughead wakes up at 5am and can’t get back to sleep. He can’t stop thinking about Betty. Even though she hurt him so bad, he couldn’t help but miss her whenever their favorite show or song came on. He couldn’t help but see her face all over town. I mean, she had tried to kill herself. He almost lost the woman he cared about more than he’d ever cared about anything. He loved everything about her. But it hurt. Oh god it hurt to see her in pain. Every time she hurt herself, every time he saw her looking depressed and worn down, it absolutely broke his heart. He couldn’t stay when she was doing all of that. He had this fantasy of them meeting when she was no longer depressed and having this amazing relationship. He never thought about what it would be like to not have her in his life though. Every day he missed her. He had a couple girlfriends to try to get over her but he still saw her golden locks around every corner. He had been ecstatic when he saw her in the airport. When she walked away from him he knew he had messed up and he felt the pain of her being gone all over again. He had to make it right. So he switched his seat on the plane.   
Now he was about to see her again. He did it. He talked to her and was going to meet her for coffee at 12:30. Nothing was going to ruin what they had ever again. He wouldn’t let her go this time. He would fight tooth and nail if it meant he could have her with him.   
He pulls on a black long sleeved shirt, some black jeans, and combat boots. He decides to ditch the beanie. He wanted to be real and genuine with her today. That meant no safety blanket. He brushes his teeth, puts on some cologne, and steps out the door smiling  
He’s at the door of the coffee shop. He sees her. She’s reading the book he got her in 8th grade. A tear drops down his eye. He won’t mess this up again. 

-

Betty almost has a heart attack when Jughead sits next to her. “Nice book,” he grins. She flashes him a big smile, knowing he recognizes it. “Beloved” by Toni Morrison. He got it for her for Christmas the month before everything went downhill. She tries not to think of that and just says “What can I say, you had great taste.” He gets a happy, but almost painful looking look in his eye and starts to cry. “Don’t you ever die Betty.”

-

He doesn’t know what came over him but now he’s sobbing in front of her babbling about how confused and hurt he was and how destroyed he was when she almost died. He can physically feel his heart tearing as he talks. He tells her how he cared so much and how he never wanted to hurt her. How he couldn’t take loving her because it made him hurt whenever she hurt. He was so young, so immature. And then he reaches for her hand and repeats. “Don’t die. Please.”  
She stares at him and then her expression breaks and she’s crying too. “Jug, I never knew I hurt you, hell, I didn’t even know you loved me. You were so amazing to me before everything got fucked up and none of this was your fault. It wasn’t even my fault. It was just something bad that happened to two immature 8th graders. Please, don’t cry Jug. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”  
And then they’re kissing. It feels like he’s on fire. He’s been craving her for years and now here she is, right in front of him, kissing him. He’s been aching to explain himself to her for years and now that he’s done it all of his emotions come out and he’s pouring them into the kiss. They deepen the kiss, hungry to feel full again after years of feeling empty. Suddenly he pulls away. “We’re not going to mess this up again. Maybe we can have something. But I want to take you on a date first.” She smiles and looks at him, her emotions finally let free as well. Two empty kids are now two adults, trying to start over.


	6. the sundress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty wears a sheer sundress on her date with Jughead. Sexy times ensue.

It’s been a week since the big confessions, a week since Betty and Jughead decided to start over. They had planned to go on their first date tonight. Betty has been a bundle of happiness ever since and Veronica can sense that something is up. “Come on, just tell me what happened. We haven’t had any good gossipy girl time since you got here!” Veronica says. Betty looks down uncomfortably and replies “It’s nothing, I promise. I just ran into an old friend.” “Who?” Veronica asks. Betty sighs, knowing that question would come up. “Okay, fine. Jughead. Jughead and I met up, and he was actually really nice. We’ve decided to start over.” Veronica thinks for a moment, wondering what to think about the whole situation. I mean they had hurt each other really badly but they were older now and apparently had fixed the old wounds, so maybe she should be happy for them. “Okay, B, as long as he treats my girl well.” Betty squeals and pulls her best friend in for a hug. “I love you, you know.” Betty says suddenly. Veronica smiles and squeezes her again. “I know. And I love you too”

-

Jughead wakes up, a week after he saw Betty, a huge smile on his face. It’s 9 am on a Sunday and he planned to take Betty on a date today. He hadn’t exactly decided what he wanted to do yet, but he wanted it to be fun, simple, and romantic. He also gets a roommate today, and he’s curious and slightly annoyed. What if it turns out to be some stuck up jock. He shivers at the thought. Pretty soon he’s ready for the day and goes out to do some grocery shopping and brainstorm ideas for what to do with Betty.  
The evening comes sooner than he expected. He goes and buys some flowers for Betty, dresses in a button down and black jeans, and ditches his beanie once again. He walks up to the door of the address she sent him and stands there, tapping his foot nervously, before knocking. After a few minutes of going unanswered, the door shoots open. Nothing could have prepared him for what he sees. It’s Betty, and she looks gorgeous. She has on a sheer sundress, red lipstick, and her hair is down in beachy waves. He can feel his blood start to pool out of his head and glares at his crotch discreetly. “Not now buddy,” he thinks. He hands her the flowers and she says “Thanks Juggy. I love them. I’m going to quickly put them in a vase and I’ll be right back.” She walks away, giving him a great view of her ass through the sheer sundress. He swears under his breath as he feels his pants start to grow uncomfortably tight. Only halfway thinking straight he runs into the bathroom yelling “Hey Betty, sorry, I just need to use the bathroom.” He slams the door shut and undoes his belt, shaking. He can feel his cock throbbing. He groans and pushes his jeans down to his feet. He takes his hard warm length into his hands and starts to stroke it quickly. A few minutes in Betty walks down the hall. He doesn’t notice and lets out a groan that comes out louder than he wants it to. Then she opens the door.

-

Betty’s mouth opens as she walks into Jughead panting with his hand wrapped around his cock. She automatically clenches her thighs together and starts to lose control of her breathing. He still hasn’t noticed and his hand is still bobbing up and down his length. He’s big and thick and she can feel her mouth watering. She whimpers and he whips his head around. He panics and pulls up his pants but she stops him. She gets onto her knees slowly and grabs his dick out of his hands and starts to stroke him with long slow strokes. He’s blinded by pleasure and isn’t thinking straight. “I’ve been thinking about your cock all day,” she whispers. “I got so wet the other day. I just had to slide my fingers into my tight pussy. I came so hard, thinking of you.” “Fuck Betty,” he groans loudly. His breathing is becoming labored. Suddenly her mouth is around him, sucking hard and long. He bucks his hips forward, choking out her name. He can feel himself about to come when she suddenly lets go of him with a pop. She pushes him down onto the floor and rips off her sundress. “Fuck me. I need your cock inside me. Please,” she begs. He lets out an animalistic groan and pushes her down onto the floor, shutting the door on his way. He presses his finger to her core where she’s soaked through her underwear. He moans just thinking of what’s about to happen. “You’re so wet for me,” he chokes out before she takes her underwear off and sinks down onto him. Suddenly he’s throbbing inside of her. Then she starts to ride him. He unhooks her bra and throws it to the side. He can see her gorgeous tits bouncing as she rides him. He’s so deep inside her, plunging into her inner walls. He knows he isn’t going to last long. She’s moaning his name and he starts to whisper dirty things into her ear “You love my hard cock don’t you Betty. You love riding me until you’re crying my name. You love it when I fuck you long and hard. You love it when I come inside your tight little pussy, don’t you.” She moans loudly at his words. “Fuck yes Juggy. Harder” he plunges in and out of her at a faster pace and he can feel her start to tighten around him. He reaches underneath her and rubs her center and he feels her let go. He pulls out and long streams of warm cum spurt out of his cock, landing on her stomach.


	7. the night we met

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry for getting your hopes up with the smut. something goes wrong afterwards. they're heartbroken thinking of the past after touching each other for the first time in years. it's too soon. will they decide to go their separate ways to avoid the pain?

After their moment, Betty starts to freak out. She gets flashbacks to their last time they got intimate where he had stopped them before anything happened and told her that they couldn’t be together. She immediately starts to cry. Jughead cleans everything up, pulls up his pants, and starts to hold her. “What’s wrong Betty?” he says stroking her arm. She rips herself out of his arms and gets dressed and runs out of the room, yelling at him to get out. He gets a sad look in his eyes, but quickly runs out the door, wondering what went wrong.  
Betty sits in her room, sobbing. She’s listening to “The Night We Met”, the song that made her cry for years after they broke up. She listens to the lyrics, sniffling quietly  
When you had not touched me yet  
Take me back to the night we met  
Part of her wishes that he never had touched her heart the way he did. Part of her wishes she had never even met him. But then again part of her just wishes they could start over. She loves everything about him from the way he laughs to the little curl that falls in front of his eyes when he’s concentrated. So much had gone wrong between them and she just wishes she could go back to the night they met, when everything was so innocent. Go back to being those little 7th graders on the volleyball field. The little 8th graders getting pets together. The night we met. Wouldn’t that be great.  
Veronica walks through the door and hears her best friend crying in their room. She slowly walks up to the door and asks “B, are you okay? Can I come in?” She hears the anthem of Betty and Jughead’s love and her heart breaks for them. They had gone through so much and they deserved a happy ending. “Yes,” Betty sniffles, and so Veronica opens the door and walks over to hold Betty. “Tell me everything honey,” Veronica says. And so she does. She tells her how amazing he was tonight and how much she wished she could just enjoy it. She wishes he hadn’t scarred her for life with all the things he said and did. She wishes she could just have hot sex with the man she loves. “Oh B,” Veronica sighs. And she holds her for the rest of the night.

-

After Jughead runs out of the house he finally understands what went wrong. It was all too fast. They hadn’t even touched each other since they were torn apart by each other. Until now. And now he’s hurting like her. He sticks in his earbuds and listens to the same heart-wrenching song. “The Night We Met”  
I’ve been searching for a trail to follow, again  
Take me back to the night we met  
He sighs, trying to not cry. He thinks about all their amazing memories before everything went wrong. Being those adorable middle schoolers in love, with no cares in the world except for what kind of fish they would buy and what they would name it. Yes, they parented a fish. He smiles thinking about their little baby, Unripe Banana. He was green and yellow. It fit.   
Then he thinks of the night they were about to make love but when they touched all he could think about was when he held her before the ambulance came to whisk her away after she took all those pills. He was heartbroken. He loved her so much but he couldn’t let himself get hurt by her again. It was too much. She was too broken.   
He wants to start over, and they said they would start over. But was it possible? Could they be in love without tearing each other apart?


End file.
